Yellow Belly Sliders, I have some questions about basic care and habitat. I want happy and healthy turtles!?

I have two wonderful Yellow Belly sliders, and I just love them! However I have some questions of basic care for them. I currently am giving them turtle pellets and also some vegetables, such as Romaine lettuce and carrots. What else should and can I feed them, they are under a year old? Also I have a "sun" lamp for them which they just love but, how often should I leave this on and should I get a bulb that simulates nighttime? Is there anything that I can do for them to help stimulate them mentally? They have a huge wonderful set up with plants, and places to hide, I just didn't know what else I could do to help simulate their natural habitat? And for the last question does anyone know what types of plants I can grow for them in their tank? I want them to have a happy home. I know this is very detailed, I have checked the net and even some books but, they all give different information! So if you have some, and have some knowledge you want to share that would be great!

Yellow Belly Sliders, I have some questions about basic care and habitat. I want happy and healthy turtles!?
Only problem with plants is they eat them, but if you get cheap pond weed such as elodea, it will be good for thier diet? My pond weed is just floating (as I have abandond the use of gravel or substratefor hygien reasons!) but I regularly remove smaller sized pieces that have been bitten off to save the filter getting blocked. Have you given them a basking site? I find large pieces of bark to be a good natural basking site and soft for them to climb and walk on. On hot days I sometimes fill a paddling pool with cool water, rocks and bits of bog wood (and shady spots) outside for them to have a change of scenery and experience real sunlight. And occasionally they like to have a run about on the grass.
Reply:You should try feeding them cricktes mine love crickets but since your turtles are babies you should buy them pin-head crickets which are really small, but give the crickets to them only three times a day and only buy them like six unless you have somewhere to keep them, if you want to make their habitat more naturalistic you should try getting them artificial plants or some hiding places underwater.
Reply:TURTLES are COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...
Reply:first only feed them reptomin pellets. some of the other pellits have stuff in them that are hard to digest. stop with the vegetables and fruits. they are cariverous for the most part. you can feed them worms. since they are smaller you would need to find small worms but when they are bigger they can eat any size. if you are using a 10g tank use a 40 w bulb and leave it on 24hrs a day. if you want you can get a dark bulb for night but all they really need is the heat. they dont care about the light. i would go to a fish store for the plants. most plants that can be placed with fish will be ok.
Reply:Wow! That's a whole lotta questions. Lettuce of any kind offers very little nutrition to turtles. And carrots are for horses! LOL Sorry- but I would never give a turtle carrots, even if they like them.





You really seem to want to do the best for your turtles. Go to http://www.turtletimes.com/Forums/ The people there are great! They helped me out a lot with my box turtle and gave great advice. I use the forum daily. Trust me, you'd love it there.





*hint, if you really want to stimulate your turtles, buy a few feeder fish- minnows or rosey reds- not gold fish*



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